New Delhi, Feb 25: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to Kerala government seeking a report within two weeks on alleged police atrocities on 'adivasis' in the state. The notice was issued to state chief secretary and director general of police following complaints that 16 adivasis had been killed in the confrontation with the police at Muthanga on February 19 contrary to state government claim that only two persons were killed. The complaint, made by social activists including noted Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, alleged "brutal action by Kerala police on the adivasis resistance movement going on in the Muthunga forest region of Wayanand district of the state." "The state machinery is using brutal force to contain the year long struggle by the adivasis for their genuine demands for land rights," the complaint alleged. It further said that "the unforgivable and cynical delay in delivering the land promised by the government of Kerala to these poor and most needy people, had resulted in an unfortunate yet needlessly brutal confrontation resulting in 16 deaths which included children and women." Praying for commission's intervention, the activists claimed that apart from those killed in the police firing, scores had been injured and many arrested. "Many adivasis were still lying injured inside the forest without any medical aid."
Bureau Report